Trump touts plan to arm teachers
President not relenting amid mounting criticism
“Arm me with the resources and funding needed to help students experiencing mental health issues, not guns.”
#ArmMeWith movement
WASHINGTON – President Trump offered a full-throated defense Thursday for his proposal to arm some teachers and staff in the wake of last week’s school shooting in Florida despite opposition from law enforcement groups and teachers’ unions who warn that more guns in schools would only make them more dangerous.
One day after an emotional session with survivors of the high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., Trump praised the National Rifle Association and insisted in a series of tweets that “highly trained” teachers and coaches should be allowed to carry weapons at schools.
At a meeting later Thursday with law enforcement and school officials from around the country, Trump also suggested staff who are trained and carry a weapon could even get “a little bit of a bonus” for making their schools safer. NRA chief Wayne LaPierre immediately endorsed Trump’s call to “harden our schools” but did not specify that the teachers themselves should have guns.
A movement was created Tuesday on Instagram by teachers Olivia Bertels and Brittany Wheaton in opposition to the notion that armed teachers could stop mass shootings.
Bertels, who teaches middle school English in Kansas, knew someone close to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
She told USA TODAY that she and Wheaton started #ArmMeWith to combat the “absurd notion being espoused by largely NRA-funded politicians” that arming teachers will keep schools safe.
“Arm me with the resources and funding needed to help students experiencing mental health issues, not guns,” the #ArmMeWith movement urges.
The goal was to give educators a community-driven way to voice their frustrations, and it quickly gained traction on social media.
“The vast majority of school personnel are uninterested in carrying a weapon into a building full of hundreds or thousands of children each day,” Bertels said.
“Those desires are not being reflected in the tone-deaf suggestions being made by lawmakers as a solution to America’s gun problem,” she said.
The National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers and the teachers union in Florida’s Broward County also responded with a hard “no” to the idea of arming teachers.
Pushback came from others as well. The National Association of School Resource Officers panned the idea, saying only their sworn law enforcement officers should be armed in schools. The group cited a list of concerns, including identifying the suspect among all the gunmen and the risk of bystanders being shot by non-professionals.
Since the Parkland shooting, Trump has also endorsed the idea of expanded background checks for potential gun buyers, especially ones with mental health problems. Trump has also ordered his Justice Department to issue new regulations to ban bump stocks and other devices designed to convert guns into rapid-firing automatic weapons.
“Congress is in a mood to finally do something on this issue – I hope!” he tweeted.
The president sought to downplay any discord his proposals might engender with the NRA, praising the gun advocacy group that endorsed his candidacy and spent millions to help him get elected.
In a Thursday morning tweet, Trump called its leaders “Great People and Great American Patriots.”
Yet his proposal to raise the age limit for gun buyers has already drawn criticism from the NRA. On Wednesday the group pushed back on raising the age on assault rifle purchases, saying it would deprive young people of “their constitutional right to self-protection.”